Gettysburg 150th anniversary will be high-water mark for Whitehall re-enactor'Doc' Peters has been a Civil War re-enactor for a half-century.

June 15, 2013|By JD Malone, Of The Morning Call

Moments before three Confederate divisions step off an imagined Seminary Ridge, march across an open field and crash against the positions of Union troops along a mock-up of Cemetery Ridge, a little more than a dozen old souls will receive recognition.

Lamar "Doc" Peters, who also goes by Pete, has seen a re-enactment of Pickett's Charge, the Rebels' final doomed act of the storied three-day Battle of Gettysburg, every year since 1963.

Peters, 75, of Whitehall Township, will be among 15 people honored July 7 at this year's re-enactment for having attended both the 100th and 150th anniversaries of the most famous battle ever waged on American soil.

"This is the mother of all events," Peters said as he flipped through five decades of Civil War re-enacting mementos, anniversary medals, notes, artifacts and pictures in his home.

Events across the country for past two years have marked the many 150th anniversaries associated with the Civil War, which began with the shelling of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor on April 12, 1861.

The war between the Union and Confederacy was waged mostly on southern ground before Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee invaded Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863. His campaign ended on the rolling fields and woods outside the small town of Gettysburg.

Still trim and tanned, with an energy belying his age, Peters talks about his duties as chief surgeon in the Union command structure as if he were just plucked from the 19th century. He has period bone saws, medications, medical kits — and a staggering accumulation of historical information.

He's so convincing as a Civil War surgeon that he's appeared in the movies "Gettysburg," "Gods and Generals" and, most recently, the blockbuster "Lincoln."

But Doc is no doctor. He worked as an EMT, and his role at the re-enactment is more emergency management than amputator. He directs medical responses to injuries, ensures that water and ice are distributed to re-enactors, and coordinates ambulances and emergency responders.

The Confederate and Union forces that met at Gettysburg, a combined 160,000 men, bled each other for three days, suffering more than 46,000 casualties — the bloodiest battle of the war.

Peters' job at the re-enactment is to make sure no one gets added to the casualty lists, but he's also a re-enactor, as Col. Pete Peters of the headquarters staff.

The armies are much reduced at re-enactments. This year's force totals about 10,000, Peters said. Nothing compares to the actual battle, but the re-enactment of Gettysburg's 150th anniversary is several times what typical re-enactments attract. He said Gettysburg's 150th has brought people from England and Germany to the event, and more than 100 cannons and 300 horses.

All of which Peters will ply with water and ice.

In 1963, at his first engagement as a Gettysburg re-enactor, he was in the infantry. He crept up the ranks to the signal corps and eventually the medical corps. His longevity, and breadth of research, propelled him to headquarters staff. He said he began re-enacting after eight years in the Army, and found his calling in Civil War lore.

"I fell in love with Gettysburg," Peters said. "It's like what they say, the bug bit you. That's my second home."

His wife of nearly 50 years, Beverly, rolls her eyes as Peters talks about Gettysburg. She doesn't take part in the re-enactments and has written them off as her husband's "thing." She jokes that he must have been a Civil War soldier in some other life.

Peters said he never glorifies the war, or the battle itself — he recognizes the senseless human carnage — but he continues as a re-enactor because he wants to teach others about the war. He gives demonstrations at many other events, including the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville and New Market.

"It's what made this country," Peters said of the war.

He's made re-enactors of many others along the way. Peters' messenger and assistant at Gettysburg is Chase Morber, a teenager from Whitehall. Another assistant on the medical staff is Ed Zamorski of Pottstown.

"He is a special man," Zamorski said. "He seems to thrive on doing re-enacting. He loves it, there is no other way of putting it."

Zamorski has worked with Peters for the past decade and Zamorski sees this year's event as the high point of his re-enacting career.

"This will probably be the biggest event I will ever see in my life," Zamorski said. "This is kind of like the last hurrah for Civil War people."

Both Peters and Zamorski see Civil War events ebbing after this year's bonanza at Gettysburg. Peters believes the end of the 150th anniversary, the surrender at Appomattox, will be the last grand event. Other more recent wars, like World War II, are becoming more popular for re-enactors, the men said.

Peters said the recognition he'll get for his long dedication is nice, but will pale once the drawn-out drama of Pickett's Charge begins. The charge — when more than 12,000 Rebels crossed nearly a mile of farm field in the face of an inferno of enemy cannon and rifle fire to assault an entrenched federal army — caps the Gettysburg re-enactment and was a turning point in the war.

"That's the big one," Peters said. "It's very emotional, even after all these years."

Zamorski marveled at Peters' half century at Gettysburg. He said hoping to see another major milestone is little more than a dream.

It could happen though, considering that Zamorski, 51, was still in diapers when Peters first took the field.